BOURNE WESTFIELD PRIMARY ACADEMY - ADMISSIONS POLICY 2022-2023
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BOURNE WESTFIELD
PRIMARY ACADEMY
ADMISSIONS POLICY
2022-2023
Reviewed October 2013 Reviewed October 2016 Reviewed October 2019
Reviewed October 2014 Reviewed October 2017 Reviewed October 2020
Reviewed October 2015 Reviewed October 2018 Reviewed July 2021Bourne Westfield Primary Academy
Admissions Policy
1. Introduction
1.1 The purpose of this policy is to outline the policies and procedures used to
determine the admission of pupils to this academy. Some of these procedures are
locally determined; others are informed or enforced by statute or the policy of the
Local Authority. The Governing Body is the admissions authority for the school. Any
parent can request that their child’s date of admission is deferred or request a part-
time place, please contact the Executive Headteacher/Head of School if you want more
details.
1.2 Applications should be made via Lincolnshire County Council or directly to the
school. If there are more applications than places then the oversubscription criteria will
be used to decide who should be offered the place. If it is necessary to refuse a place
then you will be informed of your right of appeal. Parents can apply online at
www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/schooladmissions or call 01522 782030 for a paper form.
Parents resident in other areas must apply through their home local authority. Bourne
Westfield Primary Academy will adhere to the timescales outlined in the Lincolnshire
County Council Co-ordinated admissions scheme available at
www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/schooladmissions for these applications and the relevant Local
Authority will make the offer of places on their behalf as required by the School
Admissions Code.
2. Key Issues
2.1 Parents can request that the date their child is admitted to school is deferred until
later in the academic year or until the term in which the child reaches compulsory school
age.
2.2 Bourne Westfield Primary Academy provides for the admission of all children in the
September following their fourth birthday. Where we have offered a child a place at our
school:
• That child is entitled to a full-time place in the September following their fourth
birthday.
• The child’s parents can defer the date their child is admitted to the school until
later in the school year but not beyond the point at which they reach compulsory
school age and not beyond the beginning of the final term of the school year for
which it was made, whichever is the sooner;
• Where the parents wish, children may attend part-time until later in the school
year but not beyond the point at which they reach compulsory school age.
Parents interested in deferring admission or arranging part-time attendance must
contact the school to discuss this.
2.3 Parents can request that their child takes up the place part-time until the child reaches
compulsory school age.
22.4 The absolute limit of numbers to initially be granted places within the academy is
determined by the academy and that figure is published annually. For the 2022-2023
academic year, that figure has been set at 90 places. The academy will not exceed
that figure in its new Reception intake each year except where the 90th child is a twin or
other sibling from a multiple birth and in that situation, all children will be admitted.
Classes will be organised in such a way that no Reception class or infant class exceeds
30 pupils apart from when a child is admitted as an ‘excepted’ pupil as in the case
mentioned above.
2.5 In accordance with legislation the allocation of places for children with the following
will take place first; Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) (Children and Families Act
2014) where the school is named. We will then allocate remaining places in accordance
with this policy.
2.6 In order to meet the government’s military covenant aimed at helping UK service
personnel, and Crown Servants returning from abroad we have adopted the following
arrangements.
2.7 In order to support the military covenant aimed at removing disadvantage for UK
service personnel (UK Armed Forces), and Crown Servants returning from abroad the
following arrangements will apply. If an application is supported by an official letter
declaring a posting and a relocation date, then an intention to move to a confirmed address
or quartering within the UK will be accepted. The new address will be used to consider the
application against the oversubscription criteria. A unit postal address can be used if the
family do not have a confirmed address at the time of application.
2.8 Where an application is not supported by an official letter or is not being made due to
a new posting then the current address will be used to examine the application against
the oversubscription criteria until the family are formally resident in the new address. Proof
of intended occupation of the residential address such as mortgage statement, exchange
of contracts or signed tenancy agreement will be required. For applicants participating in
the Future Accommodation Model trial, a letter accepting an address under the scheme
will be accepted if a signed tenancy agreement cannot be provided.
2.9 An offer may be withdrawn if a child does not reside at the address listed on the
application form if the school is oversubscribed and use of an incorrect address has
resulted in a place being denied to another child who would otherwise have been offered
the place.
If a family have provided the required proof of posting, a unit postal address will be
accepted for the purposes of operating the oversubscription criteria if parents are unable
to provide an address or prefer to use the unit address. This unit will be the base to which
the parent has been posted.
2.10 In all cases where parents can demonstrate that the child is a child of a crown servant
returning from abroad or is a child of a serving member of the armed forces, the governors
will consider whether to offer a place at a school even if the school has reached its official
PAN. When making the decision whether to offer over PAN the governors will consider
the circumstances of each case including, if the applicant would have been offered a place
had they applied on time in the admissions round of the year of entry, whether there is
any child on the reserve list with higher priority under the oversubscription criteria, whether
admission of a further student would prejudice the efficient education and efficient use of
3resources and this prejudice would be excessive. The Governors have discretion to admit
above the admission number in these circumstances, but they are not obliged to do so. If
a place is refused, parents will be informed of their right of appeal.
2.11 If there are more applications for admission than there are places then the
academy’s admission criteria will be brought into operation and followed rigorously.
These criteria are published annually by the academy and are made available to
parents. If a parent appeals against the decision of the governing body, then an
independent appeal tribunal will be set up and the appeal heard by that tribunal.
2.12 Lincolnshire County Council operates a central admission clearing house in
respect of initial entry to school in the Reception year. If there are insufficient places
available, then the procedure as outlined in paragraph 2.5 will be followed. Details of
the application process may be obtained from the academy. There is a procedure for
submission of applications and offering of places which follows a county wide policy
and timetable. Details of that policy and timetable are given to all applicants.
2.13 Once firm places have been offered parents will be informed of the induction
arrangements for new Reception pupils. This will take the form of a number of visits
during the summer term where pupils will have an opportunity to spend time in the
academy and parents will have an opportunity to discuss their child’s education with the
academy staff. The E x e c u t i v e H e a d t e a c h e r / H ead of School will use this
opportunity to explain the philosophy of the academy and the key role parents play
in the education of their children. Basic information about uniform and assimilation into
school life will be also be given at this time. The importance of a partnership between
parents and the academy will be stressed.
2.14 A similar centralised system is also operated by the Local Authority for admissions
into other year groups as and when they are sought. If the Local Authority is unable to
offer a place at the academy parents may put their child’s details onto a mid-year
reserve list which is maintained by the academy. The child’s details will remain on this
list for a period of 12 months at which point the parents will be contacted to ascertain
whether they wish to remain on the list beyond that point.
3 Bourne Westfield Primary Academy Admission Criteria
3.1 For entry into Reception in September, places will be allocated to parents who
return an application, before any parent who has not returned one. The over-
subscription criteria are listed in order. Words marked with a number, for example 1,
2, 3, and 4 are explained separately in the definition and notes section.
3.2 The oversubscription criteria below are listed in the order we apply them. If there are
more applicants than places within a particular category, the next criteria will be applied
until the tiebreaker is used.
A. The child is in the care of the local authority or has previously been in the
care of the local authority and has been adopted or become subject to a
residence order or special guardianship order including those children who
appear to have been in state care outside of England and ceased to be in state
care as a result of being adopted. (1)
B. There is a brother or sister (2) on roll at the academy at the time of application
4C. Children of staff members employed at the school (3).
D. The academy is the nearest one to the home address, as defined in note (4).
E. The straight-line distance from the home to the academy. Priority will be given
to the child living nearest the academy as calculated by Lincolnshire County
Council school admissions team (5).
3.3 Definitions and notes:
(1) Looked After Children and Previously Looked After Children.
A 'looked after child' is a child who is (a) in the care of a local authority, or (b)
being provided with accommodation by a local authority in the exercise of their
social services functions (see the definition in Section 22(1) of the Children Act
1989) at the time of making an application to a school. A child is regarded as
having been in state care outside of England if they were in the care of or were
accommodated by a public authority, a religious organisation, or any other
provider of care whose sole or main purpose is to benefit society. Previously
looked after children are children who were looked after but ceased to be so
because they were adopted (or became subject to a child arrangements order or
special guardianship order). This includes children who were adopted under the
Adoption Act 1976 (see section 12 adoption orders) and children who were
adopted under the Adoption and Children's Act 2002 (see section 46 adoption
orders). Child arrangements orders are defined in s.8 of the Children Act 1989,
as amended by Section 12 of the Children and Families Act 2014. Child
arrangements orders replace residence orders and any residence order in force
prior to 22 April 2014 is deemed to be a child arrangements order. Section 14A
of the Children Act 1989 defines a ‘special guardianship order’ as an order
appointing one or more individuals to be a child’s special guardian (or special
guardians).
(2) Brother or sister.
• A full brother or sister, whether or not resident in the same
household.
• Another child normally living for the majority of term time in
the same household, where an adult in the household has parental
responsibility as
defined by the Children Act 1989. Or, any child in the household where an
adult in the household is defined as a parent for the purposes of Section
576 of the Education Act 1996.
Twins and other siblings from a multiple birth
In these cases, all the children will be considered together as one application.
If one or more can be admitted within the published admission number the
school will be allowed to go above its admission number as necessary to
admit all the children, unless this would make the class too large and prejudice
the education of the other children. The government’s school admissions code
makes an exception to the infant class limit in this situation.
Brothers and sisters in the same year group
Where there is only one place available in the school the children will be
considered together as one application. The school will be allowed to go
5above its admission number as necessary to admit all the children except in
cases where infant class regulations prevent this from happening. If this
happens, we can only legally offer one place because the government’s
school admissions code makes no exception to the infant class size limit for
siblings in the same year group.
(3) For children of permanent employees whose place of work is Bourne
Westfield at the time of admission. Where the member of staff has been
employed at the school for two or more years at the time at which the
application for admission to the school is made, and/or the member of staff
is recruited to fill a vacant post for which there is a demonstrable skill
shortage.
(4) The nearest school is found by measuring the straight line distance from
the child’s home address to all state funded school's admitting children in the
relevant year group. Measurements are calculated electronically from the Post
Office address point of the home address to the Post Office address point of the
school. We measure distance to three decimal places, e.g. 1.256 miles.
By home, we mean the address where the child lives for the majority of term time
with a parent as defined in section 576 of the Education Act 1996 who has
parental responsibility for the child as defined in the Children Act 1989.
Where a child lives normally during the school week with more than one parent at
different addresses, the home address for the purposes of school admissions will
be the one where the child spends the majority of term time. If a parent can show
that their child spends an equal amount of time at both addresses during school
term time, they can choose which address to use on the application.
If a parent has more than one home, we will take as the home address the
address where the parent and child normally live for the majority of the school
term time.
(5) The nearest address is found by measuring the distance from your home
address to the academy. Measurements are calculated electronically from the
Post Office address point of the child's home address to the Post Office address
point of the school by straight line distance. We measure distance to three
decimal places, e.g. 1.256 miles.
(6) The oversubscriptions criteria are listed in the order we apply them. If any of
the oversubscription criteria have too many applicants, then the tie- break will
be by distance using the method in note 4. If the distance is not sufficient to
distinguish between two applicants for the last remaining place, then a lottery
will be drawn by a person independent to the school and not working in the Local
Authority of Children's Service's Directorate.
4 Fraudulent or misleading applications
4.1 As an admission authority, we reserve the right to check any address and other
information provided so we can apply the oversubscription criteria accurately and
fairly. As an admission authority, we have the right to investigate any concerns we
6may have about your application and to withdraw the offer of a place if we consider there
is evidence that you have made a fraudulent claim or provided misleading information,
for example a false address was given which denied a place to a child with a stronger
claim.
5 Admission of Children Outside their Normal Age Group
5.1 Parents may seek a place for their child outside of their normal age group, for example,
if the child is gifted and talented or has experienced problems such as ill health. Parents
wishing to make these requests must contact their home local authority for guidance on the
procedure to follow. Parents resident in Lincolnshire should call 01522 782030 or email
schooladmissions@lincolnshire.gov.uk for advice on the procedure to follow. It is important
for parents to note that they will have the opportunity and responsibility to provide whatever
evidence they wish to support their request. Bourne Westfield Primary Academy will make
decisions on the circumstances of each case and in the best interests of the child
concerned. This will include taking account of:
• The parent’s views;
• Any available information about the child’s academic, social and emotional
development;
• Where relevant, their medical history and the views of a medical professional;
• Whether they have previously been educated out of their normal age group;
• Any evidence that the child may naturally have fallen into a lower age group if it were
not for being born prematurely;
• The views of the Executive Headteacher/Head of School.
6 Right of appeal
6.1 Parents who are not offered a place for their child have a right to appeal to an
Independent Appeal Panel. Further information about this process will be provided by
the academy.
7 Fair Access Protocol
7.1 Fair Access
Local Authorities are required to have Fair Access Protocols in order to make sure that
unplaced children who live in the home local authority, especially the most vulnerable, are
offered a place at a suitable school as quickly as possible. This includes admitting children
above the published admissions number to schools that are already full. Students
allocated under Fair Access Protocols will take precedence over those on a waiting list.
Bourne Westfield Primary Academy will participate in Lincolnshire County Council’s Fair
Access Protocol.
This policy was reviewed and approved by the Full Governing Body on 18th November
2020.
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